A friend to many readers of this column, longtime Mother of Divine Mercy/St. Josaphat parishioner Tim Ferguson was ordained to the Diaconate for the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan on Friday, December 12. Formerly a canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of Detroit, Tim is completing the studies for the priesthood he began almost three decades earlier. At that time he was privileged to have lived for a while at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, one of North America’s best-known locations of traditional liturgy, during the tenure of its legendary pastor and music director Msgr. Richard Schuler.

Tim is an avid supporter of the Extraordinary Form and will be returning home to serve as Deacon for the Midnight Mass at St. Joseph Church, listed below.

Christmas Masses in the Extraordinary Form

We are pleased to announce that a number of options exist for those who wish to attend Tridentine Masses for Christmas Day:

Christmas Eve:

Midnight Solemn High Mass at St. Joseph, Detroit Celebrant: Fr. Robert MarczewskiChoir and chamber orchestra will perform
Mozart’s Missa Brevis in B FlatMidnight Solemn High Mass at Assumption
Grotto, DetroitChoir and orchestra will perform
Otto Nicolai’s Mass in D

The resurgence of interest in the Extraordinary Form of Holy Mass has brought with it an interest in other aspects of the Church’s liturgy which have received little attention in recent decades. One example is the so-called “O Antiphons”:

With the exception of the Feast of St. Thomas on December 21, the week prior to the Vigil of Christmas, December 17-23, is comprised of the Ember Days and Greater Ferias of Advent. The latter are Second Class Ferias on which the Mass Propers of the preceding Sunday are used. Most Votive Masses are prohibited on these days. The Church wants us to focus on Advent, not on other Feasts, during this week of anticipation. The Antiphons for Vespers of this week are correspondingly known as the Greater Antiphons, but more commonly known as the O Antiphons because of their wording.

Each Antiphon addresses Jesus with a title which comes from the prophecies of Isaiah that anticipate the coming of the Messiah. The first letters of the titles in the original Latin in reverse order spell “Ero Cras”, which means “Tomorrow, I will come”. The verses of the hymn Veni, Veni, Emmánuël (and its English translation, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel) are reworded versions of the O Antiphons, with the last being the first verse.

December 17 - O Sapiéntia: O Wisdom Who camest out of the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come and teach us the way of prudence.

December 18 - O Adonái: O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, Who didst appear to Moses in the flame of the burning bush, and didst give unto him the law on Sinai: come and with an outstretched arm redeem us.

December 19 - O Radix Jesse: O Root of Jesse, Who standest for an ensign of the people, before Whom kings shall keep silence, and unto Whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication: come to deliver us, and tarry not.

December 20 - O Clavis David: O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, Who openest and no man shutteth, Who shuttest and no man openeth: come and bring forth from his prison-house, the captive that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.

December 21 - O Óriens: O Dawn of the East, Brightness of the light eternal, and Sun of justice: come and enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

December 22 - O Rex Géntium: O King of the Gentiles and the Desired of them, Thou Corner-stone that makest both one: come and deliver man, whom Thou didst form out of the dust of the earth.

December 23 - O Emmánuël: O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for December 14, 2014. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]